:00:09. > :00:15.Tonight, the BBC learns that the Duke executive of RBS will not be
:00:15. > :00:16.taking his bonus. Stephen Hester says that he will turn down nearly
:00:16. > :00:20.�1 million after coming under intense pressure.
:00:20. > :00:23.The Afghan Government prepares to meet with the Taliban in Saudi
:00:23. > :00:28.Arabia to try to kick-start peace talks.
:00:28. > :00:36.In Syria, reports of more than 60 dead in fresh clashes after Arab
:00:36. > :00:43.League monitors withdraw. It is over. You have to say that
:00:43. > :00:53.the man deserves this. Novac Djokovic's nocturnal victory. His
:00:53. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :01:08.Good evening. Within the last few minutes, the BBC has learned that
:01:08. > :01:12.the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester,
:01:12. > :01:17.has decided not to take his bonus. He has been under intense pressure
:01:17. > :01:21.since the bonus of just under �1 million was made public last week.
:01:21. > :01:26.In a moment I will speak to our political correspondent but first
:01:26. > :01:31.joining us on the line is Robin Paxton, who broke the story tonight.
:01:31. > :01:35.-- Robert Peston. The final straw for Stephen Hester was the decision
:01:35. > :01:39.of the Labour Party to push to a vote in the House of Commons,
:01:39. > :01:43.questioning whether or not he should get a bonus. It became clear
:01:43. > :01:47.to Stephen Hester that this issue was not going to go away. There was
:01:47. > :01:51.a significant risk that actually Labour would win the vote because
:01:51. > :01:56.there are a number of Lib Dems that are very angry about the bonus.
:01:56. > :02:00.They may well have voted with Labour. He simply took the view
:02:00. > :02:05.that it was damaging to the bank and to him personally for this row
:02:05. > :02:09.to go on and on, and he has therefore decided to waive the
:02:09. > :02:19.bonus. I can tell you that the board was urging him to fight. They
:02:19. > :02:21.
:02:21. > :02:26.felt that he had burned the -- earned the bonus for making it the
:02:26. > :02:30.Royal Bank of Scotland less risky, reducing loans and borrowings by
:02:30. > :02:34.something like �600 billion. In their view, this has put RBS on a
:02:34. > :02:39.firmer footing. Curiously and despite the controversy, the board
:02:39. > :02:43.was saying that they would back him if he decided to fight all this
:02:43. > :02:47.pressure to waive the bonus. Ultimately he has taken the view
:02:47. > :02:51.that he will not be taking this �1 million in shares. Thank you very
:02:51. > :02:56.much. Our business Editor Robert Peston, who broke the story in the
:02:56. > :03:01.last few minutes. Our political correspondent is here. The
:03:01. > :03:05.political pressure was really growing today. Yes, it did. There
:03:05. > :03:08.will be relief among ministers. Iain Duncan Smith said today that
:03:08. > :03:12.nobody would be happier than the Government if Stephen Hester gave
:03:12. > :03:15.up the bonus, which is what has happened. This has been a problem
:03:15. > :03:20.for the Government. They have had a rational argument that you have to
:03:20. > :03:23.pay the best in the City a lot of money, but this just did not chime
:03:23. > :03:26.with the rhetoric that we have been hearing from many ministers and
:03:26. > :03:30.David Cameron himself, who has been talking about shareholders clamping
:03:30. > :03:35.down on excessive pay. The Conservatives particularly did not
:03:35. > :03:41.want to be painted as being on the side of the rich and the City when
:03:41. > :03:43.they are making cuts elsewhere. They will be relieved that this has
:03:43. > :03:45.happened but the problem is this will rear its head again next year
:03:45. > :03:55.unless they come up with some kind of long-term solution to the
:03:55. > :03:57.problem. Thank you very much. That is the latest on the Stephen Hester
:03:57. > :04:05.bonus story. In other news, after a decade of
:04:05. > :04:09.war in Afghanistan, there are signs that the Government is taking the
:04:09. > :04:13.first steps towards peace talks with the Taliban. The talks will
:04:13. > :04:17.take place in Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks. Any dialogue will
:04:17. > :04:22.be Afghan-led, according to Hamid Karzai, but so far focus has been
:04:22. > :04:30.on US efforts to talk to the Taliban. For 10 years the war
:04:30. > :04:34.against the Taliban has ground on relentlessly. The fight has become
:04:34. > :04:40.bloodier and deadlier, as each side failed to find victory on the
:04:40. > :04:46.battlefield. But now even as the killing goes on, there are the
:04:46. > :04:50.first hints that the two sides may be ready to talk. The Taliban are
:04:50. > :04:56.far from ready to put down their guns. But for the first time, they
:04:56. > :05:02.are planning to speak to Hamid Karzai's Government. They will meet
:05:02. > :05:06.in either Saudi Arabia or two Turkey. Previously the men who led
:05:06. > :05:14.these fighters said they would only speak to the Americans from the new
:05:14. > :05:22.office in the Gulf state of Qatar. This NVQs says it is time for talks
:05:22. > :05:26.to happen Afghan to Afghan. -- this MP. It is incredibly difficult to
:05:26. > :05:30.win this war using the military so they have to talk. David Cameron
:05:30. > :05:34.met Hamid Karzai this weekend. Peace may be a long way off, but
:05:34. > :05:38.the clock is ticking. There is this pressure that nobody wants to be
:05:38. > :05:42.left out and that now accounts for the Taliban side and the Afghan
:05:42. > :05:47.Government, and the international actors. There is a sense that there
:05:47. > :05:51.is a more real opportunity to move towards negotiation and settlement.
:05:51. > :05:55.This is a war that will likely never be won on the battlefield.
:05:55. > :06:02.These British combat troops and the Americans will leave Afghanistan in
:06:02. > :06:06.three years' time. So the worry here in Kabul are the Taliban
:06:06. > :06:09.serious about the negotiations? Could they ever accept an Afghan
:06:09. > :06:16.constitution and women's rights? Are they simply playing for time,
:06:16. > :06:20.waiting for foreign troops to go? There have been fierce clashes on
:06:20. > :06:25.the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus following the withdrawal
:06:25. > :06:29.of Arab League monitors. Activist so that 60 people have been killed
:06:29. > :06:33.today. The Free Syrian Army claims it has been strengthened by a fresh
:06:33. > :06:38.wave of defections from Government forces. They are now making
:06:38. > :06:42.advances towards Damascus. What is left of a military bus, bombed by
:06:43. > :06:46.armed rebels close to Damascus. It is attacks like this, the
:06:46. > :06:50.Government says, that have provoked the current escalation. Six
:06:50. > :06:58.soldiers died here. Others were wounded but survived to tell the
:06:58. > :07:01.tale. Suddenly the bus into take- off. It burst into flames and all
:07:01. > :07:09.the windows shattered. We were thrown onto the ground and then
:07:09. > :07:12.they opened fire on us as well. This is the Government's answer,
:07:12. > :07:19.attacking and bombarding places like Homs which has been a hotbed
:07:19. > :07:24.of defiance from early on. Dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops are
:07:24. > :07:34.being thrown into battle in residential areas. The regime is no
:07:34. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:38.longer just facing crowds of These are the man the Government
:07:38. > :07:43.calls terrorists and the opposition calls heroes, defending civilians
:07:43. > :07:50.against brutal oppression. The Free Syrian Army, made up of deserters,
:07:50. > :07:54.seemed to be growing by the day. With the Arab League observers now
:07:54. > :07:59.standing down, the escalation of violence is going ahead with no
:07:59. > :08:04.outside witnesses. That means the focus is even more strongly on
:08:04. > :08:11.intensifying discussions at the UN Security Council, the only hope
:08:11. > :08:14.left of our way out of the carnage. President Sarkozy has claimed
:08:14. > :08:21.tonight that Europe is over the worst of its financial crisis. He
:08:21. > :08:27.has been speaking ahead of a summit of EU leaders that begins tomorrow
:08:27. > :08:31.in Brussels. How is President Sarkozy couching this? Well, he was
:08:31. > :08:35.a little bit optimistic tonight. He said Europe was no longer on the
:08:35. > :08:41.edge of an abyss. He said the financial markets were,. The debt
:08:41. > :08:47.crisis has not gone away. He announced new taxes tonight, and
:08:47. > :08:50.said that VAT, sales tax, would go up to 21% in France. He also
:08:50. > :08:55.announced a tax on financial transactions, that will go ahead.
:08:55. > :09:02.It was the same tax that David Cameron described as mothers.
:09:02. > :09:10.David Cameron will be at this summit. -- describes as madness.
:09:10. > :09:15.What will the atmosphere be like given what happened the last time
:09:15. > :09:20.there was a summit? There is always a chance that the tension will
:09:20. > :09:27.flare up again. There will be discussion about jobs and growth,
:09:27. > :09:30.and the decision for greater budgetary discipline in the EU, it
:09:30. > :09:34.was that treaty that prompted David Cameron to use his veto and that
:09:34. > :09:38.will be discussed. Greece will cast a shadow. There are intense
:09:39. > :09:43.negotiations going on over another bail-out. If that were to fail,
:09:43. > :09:48.then breeze would be facing bankruptcy some time in the late
:09:48. > :09:55.March. -- Greece would be facing bankruptcy. And a German proposal
:09:55. > :09:58.at the weekend, which they suggested might need an EU
:09:59. > :10:03.commissioner to enforce tax and spending issues in Greece, that has
:10:03. > :10:09.caused fury in Athens. It is interesting to observe, two years
:10:09. > :10:12.into the crisis, and Greece still very much on the agenda. Thank you.
:10:12. > :10:16.Our European Editor, live from Brussels.
:10:16. > :10:20.Rough seas and strong winds have caused the Costa Concordia to slip
:10:20. > :10:23.slightly further into the water today. Italian divers have
:10:23. > :10:27.continued their search of the wreck before efforts to remove the fuel
:10:27. > :10:31.begin. 16 people remain unaccounted for after the discovery of another
:10:31. > :10:34.body yesterday. It could be several months before the wreck can be
:10:34. > :10:38.moved. United Nations inspectors have
:10:38. > :10:42.arrived in Iran to investigate a possible military aspects of its
:10:42. > :10:46.nuclear programme. The team hopes to tour nuclear facilities over the
:10:46. > :10:50.next few days, look at documents and tried to assess the exact
:10:50. > :10:58.nature of Iran's activities. Western countries recently imposed
:10:58. > :11:03.the tighter sanctions get against Iran. -- the tightest sanctions yet.
:11:04. > :11:08.At the Tehran International Airport, handful of protesters did the place
:11:08. > :11:13.of a red carpet as IAEA inspectors began a three-day tour of Iran.
:11:13. > :11:19.hope that Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the
:11:19. > :11:24.possible military aspect of this programme. We are looking forward
:11:24. > :11:30.to the start of the dialogue which is overdue for a very long time.
:11:30. > :11:34.This is where they will expect to go. The inspectors will tour Iran's
:11:34. > :11:41.nuclear facilities and they will analyse documents. They will ask
:11:41. > :11:43.scientists why Iran is directing so much uranium, more than it may need
:11:44. > :11:48.for civilian purposes. The Government says that this
:11:48. > :11:52.inspection will prove that their nuclear programme is peaceful.
:11:52. > :11:58.Previous inspections never managed to resolve that question. This
:11:58. > :12:04.short me that in itself is not likely to provide a definitive
:12:04. > :12:08.answer. -- short visit. It is only three days so it is not likely much
:12:08. > :12:12.could be achieved. Nevertheless, if they start to negotiations on the
:12:12. > :12:17.military aspects of the programme, that would be highly significant.
:12:17. > :12:21.Iran often prefers displays of power to actual negotiations. They
:12:21. > :12:27.recently carried out naval exercises in the Gulf. They have
:12:27. > :12:37.even throttle to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel
:12:37. > :12:46.in the region. In their turn, they have sent their own message. Keep
:12:46. > :12:51.the Strait of Hormuz open and engage with the visiting officials.
:12:51. > :12:55.Now the sport. Arsenal have staged a remarkable FA Cup comeback. They
:12:55. > :12:58.were 2-0 down against Aston Villa and booed off by their fans at half
:12:58. > :13:01.time. But three second half goals gave them victory at the Emirates
:13:01. > :13:04.Stadium. Earlier Sunderland drew 1- 1 with Middlesborough at the
:13:04. > :13:07.Stadium of Light in their fourth round tie. Tim Franks watched the
:13:07. > :13:10.action. The first half-hour at the Emirates Stadium may have been
:13:10. > :13:15.forgettable but the rest was not. Richard Dunne scored this
:13:15. > :13:22.thunderous goal and then Darren Barr and was acute. 2-0 to the
:13:22. > :13:28.visitors. -- Darren Bent. They repaid their visitors with some
:13:28. > :13:31.gracious hospitality in the penalty box. Robin van Persie was the reply
:13:31. > :13:35.of this. Theo Walcott should have been going nowhere but Aston Villa
:13:35. > :13:42.seemed to insist that he should score, which he did. Darren Bent
:13:42. > :13:47.then proved why he is the strike and not the defender. Robin van
:13:47. > :13:51.Persie, with machine tooled accuracy, making it 3-2. Arsenal
:13:51. > :13:55.will face the winners of the replay between Sunderland and
:13:55. > :14:01.Middlesbrough. The lowly visitors provided the class in the first
:14:01. > :14:05.half. Barry Robson's Folly was sublime. His touch was anything but
:14:06. > :14:08.in the second half. His back-pass carved open his own defence and the
:14:08. > :14:14.ball arrived in the path of a Sunderland man making his comeback
:14:14. > :14:20.after 17 months of injuries. Fraizer Campbell, his delight
:14:20. > :14:23.understandable and unfettered. After today's games, the draw for
:14:23. > :14:25.the fifth round was made and the stand-out ties include League Two
:14:25. > :14:27.Crawley Town hosting Premier League Stoke and League One's Stevenage
:14:27. > :14:29.playing Spurs. Championship side Brighton's reward for beating
:14:29. > :14:32.Newcastle is a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
:14:33. > :14:36.Celtic will face Kilmarnock in the final of the Scottish League Cup
:14:36. > :14:40.next month after they beat Falkirk 3-1 at Hampden. The First Division
:14:40. > :14:43.side had been hoping to knock both Old Firm clubs out of the
:14:43. > :14:46.competition having already beaten Rangers. But Anthony Stokes scored
:14:46. > :14:51.twice to secure the victory after Falkirk's Jay Fulton had earlier
:14:51. > :14:55.cancelled out a Scott Brown penalty. It was the longest Grand Slam final
:14:55. > :14:58.in history, between two of the sport's greats. But after nearly
:14:58. > :15:03.six hours, the result had a familiar ring. Novak Djokovic beat
:15:03. > :15:06.Rafael Nadal in a five set thriller to win the Australian Open. It's
:15:06. > :15:16.his third consecutive Grand Slam title, all of them at the
:15:16. > :15:19.
:15:19. > :15:23.Look closely at jock's trainers he keeps a tally of the Grand Slam
:15:23. > :15:26.trophies he has won but in first set it didn't look as if he would
:15:26. > :15:30.be holding on to his Australian title. In fact it looked as though
:15:30. > :15:33.he had put his shoes on the wrong feet. He was so out of sorts he's
:15:33. > :15:39.gave up on his racket before the end of the first set. The change
:15:39. > :15:47.didn't stop him losing that 7-5 but things began to look brighter. He
:15:47. > :15:51.won the second set, 6-4. The third, came more easily. 6-2. Djokovic was
:15:51. > :15:57.on a roll. But Nadal can never be accused of folding, no such thing
:15:57. > :15:59.as lost cause in his book. Saving three break points. It took a tie-
:15:59. > :16:03.break to separate them in the fourth, one of the great, the
:16:03. > :16:10.importance of such moments in a match can be gauged by the number
:16:10. > :16:15.of Nadal fist pumps. That is out. Into a fifth. Set and hour, fatigue
:16:15. > :16:19.a possible factor as they passed the mark for the longest match in
:16:19. > :16:28.Australian Open history. From a break down, Djokovic found himself
:16:28. > :16:33.serving for the match. It is over and you have to say the man
:16:33. > :16:37.deserved it. T-shirt was off again, the champion's every sinew
:16:37. > :16:44.stretched to breaking, to defend his trophy. A third Australian Open
:16:44. > :16:48.title for Djokovic and what a way to start the year. England's Robert
:16:48. > :16:53.Rock held off the challenge of the former world number one Tiger Woods
:16:53. > :16:58.and Rory McIlroy to take golf's Abu Dhabi Championship. Rock ranked
:16:58. > :17:05.117th in the world went into the final day sharing the lead but
:17:05. > :17:12.birdied three of his first six holes to set up a one shot victory.
:17:12. > :17:21.Rory McIlroy finished second while Woods was third. It was Rock's only
:17:21. > :17:27.second win in 228 attempts. The New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko has become
:17:27. > :17:36.the youngest winner of a profaetion event at 14. She won the New South
:17:36. > :17:40.Wales open by four shots. That is all the sport for now. An our main
:17:40. > :17:44.news Robert Peston has learned the Royal Bank of Scotland chief